Tag: medical marijuana

Pennsylvania GOP Senator’s Bill Would Let Medical Marijuana Patients Get Gun Carry Permits

A Republican senator in Pennsylvania has formally introduced a bill meant to remove state barriers to medical marijuana patients carrying firearms after previewing the legislation and soliciting co-sponsors earlier this year.

Sen. Dan Laughlin (R) introduced SB 1146 on Wednesday, which state Senate Republicans noted in a press release was also 2A Day, celebrating the Constitution’s Second Amendment.

The GOP statement called the proposal “a bold step toward ensuring the rights of all citizens,” saying it “acknowledges the importance of the right to bear arms, a fundamental aspect of American freedom.”

“My legislation will make sure a valid medical marijuana cardholder is no longer considered an unlawful marijuana user,” Laughlin said in the release. “Although marijuana remains illegal under federal law, we should be updating Pennsylvania’s laws to ensure valid medical marijuana cardholders are not denied their rights.”

The two-page bill would amend the Pennsylvania’s Uniform Firearms Act, which currently says a concealed carry license “shall not be issued” to someone who “is addicted to or is an unlawful user of marijuana.” SB 1146 would add that “the term ‘unlawful user of marijuana’ does not include an individual who holds a valid identification card” under the state’s medical marijuana act.

It would also add a qualifier to a provision barring carry permits for an “individual who is prohibited from possessing or acquiring a firearm under the statutes of the United States,” asserting that the restriction “shall not apply” to someone prohibited from gun ownership “based solely on the individual’s status as a holder of a valid identification card” for medical marijuana.

The changes would take effect 60 days after becoming law.

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Kentucky Budget Bill On Governor’s Desk Would Restrict Medical Marijuana Funding Ahead Of Program Launch

Kentucky’s legislature has delivered a budget bill to the governor that includes a provision restricting funding for a medical marijuana regulatory body overseeing the state’s forthcoming program until its advisory board determines there’s a “propensity” of research supporting the therapeutic “efficacy” of cannabis.

The language represents a watered down version of what was included in the Senate budget proposal, which would have set a much stricter threshold for the availability of funding for the Office of Medical Cannabis.

A last-minute amendment that was adopted prior to passage on Thursday removed Senate-approved language that would have broadly required a “propensity of federal and international peer reviewed, published research with conclusive evidence as to the efficacy of medical cannabis” in order to fund the regulatory division.

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Kansas Senators Kill Bill To Create Medical Marijuana Pilot Program

Kansas lawmakers have voted to table a bill to create a medical marijuana pilot program in the state that has drawn early criticism from advocates who view it as excessively restrictive.

The Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee took testimony on the legislation in a hearing on Thursday, a little over a week after it was first introduced. But after members heard from supporters, opponents and neutral parties, they accepted a motion to table it until January 13, 2025 in a voice vote—effectively killing the measure for the current session.

After several unsuccessful attempts to legalize medical cannabis in a more conventional manner in recent sessions, lawmakers were exploring whether there would be enough support to enact the more limited reform through a pilot program that would have launched later this year. The committee put an abrupt halt to that conversation.

“Our goal is to provide relief for patients, while also balancing the concerns of legislators and conservative Kansans,” Sam Jones, COO of Kansas Natural Remedies, which helped draft the legislation, said during the hearing.

“By being one of the last states to implement this, I think we’ve learned from other states,” he said. “We’ve tailored this bill to address the things that other states have gotten wrong and to address the things that they may have gotten right. This is a limited bill. This is supposed to be a pilot program. This is a proof of concept for medical cannabis to give proof that medical cannabis isn’t going to cause the end of society.”

Under the measure, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment would be responsible for overseeing the program, and regulators could only approve licenses for four vertically integrated cannabis operators across the state. Pharmacies could also be permitted to sell medical marijuana.

To participate in the program, patients with one of 16 qualifying conditions—including cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and chronic pain—would need to obtain a certification from a physicians.

There are a number of restrictions built into the legislation, including a ban on smoking marijuana products. While the bill also says that vaporizing cannabis would be prohibited, there’s separate language stating that flower could be inhaled through non-combustable vaporization.

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New Hampshire Lawmakers Vote To Expand Medical Marijuana Program With New Conditions And Higher Possession Limits

The New Hampshire House approved a group of bills expanding the state’s therapeutic cannabis program Thursday—as lawmakers continue to grapple with whether to legalize marijuana for everyone.

The chamber voted to pass House Bill 1278, a bill to add debilitating or terminal conditions to the list of qualifications for using therapeutic cannabis, also known as medical marijuana. In a separate vote, the House approved House Bill 1349, which allows those with generalized anxiety disorder to be part of the therapeutic cannabis program.

Both bills would require the patient to obtain a recommendation from a medical provider that they be prescribed medical cannabis.

The House also approved a bill to increase the amount of cannabis a medical marijuana patient can possess at one time. House Bill 1350 would raise the limit from 2 ounces to 4. Currently, the state’s cannabis decriminalization law allows people to possess up to three-quarters of an ounce.

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After 17 Years, Feds Stop Trying To Imprison a Licensed Medical Marijuana Provider

Seventeen years ago, the federal government raided Charlie Lynch’s medical marijuana dispensary in Morro Bay, California, and charged him with five drug felonies. Lynch, whose business complied with state and local regulations, has been fighting to stay out of prison ever since, and last month he finally won that battle.

The Department of Justice (DOJ), which had been insisting since the first iPhone was released that Lynch should be incarcerated for at least five years, suddenly agreed to a deal that will spare him that punishment and erase his criminal record. The case, which proceeded on autopilot even as marijuana prohibition collapsed in one state after another, is a vivid reminder that the unjust, massively unpopular policy persists at the federal level thanks to presidential and congressional inertia.

Lynch, a software developer who lived in San Luis Obispo County, started mulling a new line of work after he obtained a doctor’s recommendation for marijuana to treat his cluster headaches and found there were no nearby dispensaries that could supply his medicine. He conferred with a lawyer, local officials, and even the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) before opening Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers in downtown Morro Bay in April 2006.

California had legalized medical marijuana a decade earlier, and Lynch’s business was licensed, aboveboard, and legitimate as far as the city and state were concerned. The mayor, the city attorney, and city council members attended the grand opening ceremony, where the mayor posed for a photo shaking Lynch’s hand.

None of that mattered to the DEA, which raided the dispensary in March 2007, at which point it had been openly serving patients for a year. During Lynch’s 2008 trial in Los Angeles, he was not allowed to discuss the nature of his business, which was irrelevant under federal law.

“We all felt Mr. Lynch intended well,” the jury forewoman told the Los Angeles Times. “But under the parameters we were given for the federal law, we didn’t have a choice.”

At sentencing, U.S. District Judge George Wu considered details the jury was not allowed to hear, including the purpose of Lynch’s business, his extensive efforts to comply with state regulations, and the “scrupulous record-keeping” that enabled him to do that even as it facilitated his federal prosecution. Noting that Lynch had no prior criminal convictions and deeming him neither a typical drug dealer nor a serious threat to public safety, Wu sentenced him to a year and a day in federal prison.

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Ohio Drops Medical Marijuana Patient Fee To 1¢ As New Jersey Offers Free Digital Cannabis Cards

Ohio medical marijuana patients and caregivers will soon only need to pay one penny to obtain or renew their registrations, regulators have announced. And in New Jersey, the state is fully eliminating the cost of obtaining a medical cannabis card.

As Ohio prepares to implement a voter-approved adult-use legalization law, the Division of Cannabis Control (DCC) says that, effective March 4, the annual fees ($50 for patients and $25 for caregivers) will drop to one cent. Once regulators are able to update vendor software, the plan is to completely remove the fee.

“The DCC understands that a one cent charge is not ideal,” it said in a notice on Tuesday, “however, at this time the Division feels it is appropriate and necessary to provide this immediate financial relief for patients and caregivers in the short term while working toward a full fee elimination as soon as the updates to the registry can be made.”

The fee elimination is part of an initial package of rules that DCC released earlier this month to implement adult-use legalization. That rollout currently calls for sales to begin in September, but the governor and lawmakers have pushed for legislation to speed up that process by allowing existing medical cannabis dispensaries to begin selling to adult consumers earlier.

A top Ohio Democratic senator recently said GOP House leadership is doing a “disservice” to the public by failing to advance legislation to expedite marijuana sales.

The Senate did pass a bill in December that would address the issue by allowing existing medical cannabis dispensaries to dually serve patients and adult consumers within 90 days of enactment, in addition to other changes to the initiated statute. But the House hasn’t taken it up, and the chamber has also been considering an alternative package.

Meanwhile, the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (NJ-CRC) also announced on Tuesday that, starting on March 1, patients and caregivers will no longer be required to pay a $10 fee to obtain a medical marijuana card.

They will be able to download the cards digitally for free and either save them on their phones or print them out.

“We are excited to offer free digital medicinal cannabis cards to patients in New Jersey,” Jeff Brown, executive director of the NJ-CRC, said in a press release. “Our goal with this initiative is to improve accessibility and convenience for patients who require medical cannabis for their treatment. By offering digital options, we make it more convenient for patients to receive the care they need.”

Brown also recently disclosed that the state has officially surpassed $2 billion in medical and recreational marijuana sales since 2018, and he also encouraged lawmakers to explore the possibility of giving medical cannabis patients a home grow option.

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South Dakota Senate Approves Medical Marijuana ‘Guardrails’ For People On Probation And Parole

The state Senate endorsed a bill that would require parolees and probationers to get additional sign-offs from a health care practitioner to get a medical cannabis card.

Current law on medical cannabis has no prohibitions on access for people on probation or parole, even as steering clear of drugs and alcohol are often expectations for those serving out a sentence of supervision.

Senate Bill 191 wouldn’t bar the issuance of a medical cannabis card for a person on supervised release. It would instead require that the recommending practitioner certify that the drug is consistent with the patient’s care plan for a debilitating medical condition, that it’s reasonable based on the practitioner’s observations about the patient and that it’s a better option than alternative treatments. Those certifications would need to be delivered in some form to a court services officer or parole officer.

Sen. Jim Mehlhaff (R-Pierre) told the Senate that the state’s Unified Judicial System and Department of Corrections wanted some “guardrails” against abuse of the medical cannabis system by people under their supervision.

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Alabama Medical Marijuana Access Could Take Months, Even After Licensing Lawsuits End

Antoine Mordican has a medical cannabis cultivation license. And he is building out a facility to begin growing the product.

Under state law, he has to demonstrate he can maintain cultivation facilities; use an inventory control system approved by the state; can start cannabis cultivation within 60 days; can dispose of plant waste according to regulations; and can maintain financial stability.

“I’m building—getting everything in place, getting the necessary parameters and everything in place to be in compliance, such as security,” said Mordican, the CEO of Native Black Cultivation.

But when he will see actual marijuana plants grow depends on what approach he takes.

If he grows from seed, which Mordican plans to start out with, it would take about six to eight months before he can get the first harvest.

If growing from a clone, or a cutting from a growing plant, it would be closer to four to six months. Mordican said he might look at that approach, but added that he’s not in a rush.

“Everybody’s got their own techniques,” he said. “My goal is to be within compliance with the revenue rules and regulations.”

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Medical marijuana market balloons as Florida weighs recreational use

As Florida inches closer to recreational marijuana with a 2024 ballot initiative, the Sunshine State is looking to double the size of its medical marijuana industry within the next six months.

Florida’s $2 billion medical-only cannabis market is already the nation’s most lucrative — and the state Department of Health has just spiked the biennial license fee from $60,000 to $1.33 million to grow, process and sell the substance.

Florida’s medical-only market is also the nation’s largest — its patient roster is 15 times larger than it was 5 years ago when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Medical Use of Marijuana law that removed smoking restrictions.

Today, the Sunshine State is home about 872,000 patients with ID cards issued by 2,741 physicians filled at 618 dispensaries, according to the state’s top marijuana regulator.

Citing a 71% increase in active patients over just the past two years, Florida’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use is now hoping to process 22 more medical cannabis licenses by this summer, which would nearly double the number of operators.

A medical marijuana card costs $75 each time it is issued or renewed, which is required every six to seven months.

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New South Dakota Law Removes Workplace Protections For Medical Marijuana Patients In Safety-Sensitive Jobs

South Dakota’s Gov. Kristi Noem (R) signed a bill into law this week that would roll back employment protections medical marijuana patients slightly, allowing employers to take action against people who test positive for THC if they work in a safety-sensitive position.

The bill, SB 12, also clarifies that discipline or termination for violating a drug-free workplace policy is not grounds for an employment discrimination or wrongful termination claim.

The change adds clear boundaries to the state’s workplace drug law, which says that “a registered qualifying patient who uses cannabis for a medical purpose shall be afforded all the same rights under state and local law, as the person would be afforded if the person were solely prescribed a pharmaceutical medication.”

SB 12‘s adoption means that’s no longer the case for safety-sensitive workers, which include positions like pilots, construction workers, healthcare professionals, teachers, nursing home employees, truck drivers and others.

While state law already contains a provision specifying that no employer is required to “allow any employee to work while under the influence of cannabis,” testing positive for THC or its metabolites does not mean that a person is impaired on the job, as evidence can be detectible in a person’s bloodstream for days or weeks after consuming marijuana.

On one hand, the change brings South Dakota in line with other states that have established anti-discrimination protections for workers who use marijuana but excluded safety-sensitive positions. On the other hand, the move to limit workplace protections around cannabis rather expand them makes South Dakota an outlier relative to recent trends.

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